The Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre said it has dismantled a cross-border fraud syndicate and arrested a fake World Bank official.

The police’s national spokesman, Anthony Placid, said this in a statement on Wednesday.

He said the syndicate was dismantled and the fake World Bank official arrested following actionable intelligence received from the East Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Safe Promotion Foundation.

Mr Placid said the intelligence showed that the foundation was a registered NGO in Nairobi, Kenya, and that Julius Kithome and Cynthia Kithome were introduced to the suspect by an individual named Edy Ndeto.

The police spokesman said the suspect had falsely represented himself as an official of the World Bank and other U.S.-based donor partners.

“Preliminary investigation revealed that the complainants, relying on the fraudulent claims, transferred a total of $250,000 over three years for purported registration and administrative fees meant to unlock donor funding.

“No funding was ever secured, and instead, the suspect organised sham symposiums in Nigeria and South Africa. In 2024, he further induced the victims to secure a bank loan against their family property to access a non-existent $850,000 empowerment fund in Ghana,” he said.

Mr Placid said investigation and financial analysis had confirmed substantial inflows from the Kenyan victims, including 57,975 dollars between February and July 2023.

He said the suspect was arrested on March 31, and that the entity, Black Diamond African Beauty Restoration Foundation, was found to be unregistered in Nigeria.

The police spokesman said the suspect had promptly registered United African Continent Limited in November 2024 to legitimise his illicit activities. He said further findings indicated that the suspect had expanded his fraudulent scheme to local farmers in Kuje Area Council, collecting N50,000 each under the guise of empowerment and capacity-building.

In a related development, operatives of the NPF-NCCC arrested a suspect on April 3 following a complaint by Lex Excellentia on behalf of Mr Emmanuel Enwelu of NewLife Ventures Makurdi.

The police said the suspect, a former employee of the organisation, was accused of unauthorised modification of computer systems, cybersquatting, and diversion of funds.

The statement explained that the suspect had confessed to having used his personal bank accounts to receive customer payments intended for the company.

One Samsung A6 Plus phone, NIN paper slip and NIN digital Slip were recovered from the suspect. 

(NAN)